♦ Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke's visit to Washington did little to reassure lawmakers, who were almost uniformly critical of the government's proposed $700 billion bailout. [NYT, WSJ, WSJ]
♦ By the way, how much is $700 billion? Slate runs the numbers. [Slate]
♦ The FBI is now involved in the meltdown. The agency has opened preliminary investigations into possible fraud at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers and AIG. [NYT, WSJ]
♦ Warren Buffett's $5 billion investment in Goldman is viewed as a strong sign of confidence. And Goldman's stock is way up, not surprisingly. [NYT]
♦ Three top Lehman execs including Dick Fuld sold shares after Lehman filed for bankruptcy, with Fuld selling 3.17 million shares at an average of 21 cents a share. [WSJ]

♦ T. Boone Pickens, the guy from the commercials? He's lost $1 billion on energy trades in the last few months. [WSJ]
♦ John Paulson's hedge fund emerged Tuesday as the biggest short seller of British banks. [Dealbook]
♦ Yahoo's new board approved a new round of discussions with Time Warner over the future of its AOL unit. [Dealbook]
♦ Those stratospheric pay packages of Wall Street CEOs are becoming a major lightning rod. [NYT]
♦ Electricite de France, the world's biggest nuclear utility, agreed to buy British Energy Group Plc for $23 billion. [Bloomberg]